British teenager receives revolutionary pacemaker

A British teenager has become only the second person in the world to be fitted
with a revolutionary pacemaker which can be monitored down a phone line.

1:55PM BST 09 Apr 2010

Andrew Morgan, 17, was given the pacemaker at Kettering General Hospital last month after a series of blackouts and dizzy spells caused by a slow heartbeat.

The new pacemaker called an Advisa DR MRI SureScan can be monitored remotely. Mr Morgan is able to sit at home with it attached to a phone line, allowing medical staff to check it.

If he needs an MRI scan to diagnose changes to his condition, he can have one without the risk of the pacemaker being ripped from his heart.

Mr Morgan was diagnosed with conduction system disorder last year.

He said: "I was in a pub watching a boxing match when I started to feel light headed. I got halfway to the door and the next thing I knew I woke up outside. I had no idea what was wrong or what was happening to me.

"I found out I had intermittent episodes of heart block – which means the electrical impulses that make my heart beat regularly weren't working properly," he added,

"I feel a lot better now. To be the first person (in Britain) to have the new pacemaker is great. I was lucky to be the right person at the right time and place for it."

The hospital hopes to fit more patients with the new style pacemaker in the future.

They help to regulate the beat of the heart and have been used since the 1950s.

The pacemaker is produced by the US–based medical devices company Medtronic.

It was first fitted to a patient in Italy on March 15. There are currently about 15 people with them worldwide.